Why has only 1 German ever played for United?

horsechoker

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A nearby country with one of the biggest populations in Europe, similar climate, produces dozens of great footballers every generation yet only one has played for United?

What's the deal?
 

RedDevilCanuck

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After we lost to bayern in 2010 Fergie said "typical Germans" referring to several players surrounding the ref to get Rafael sent off.

He would be suspended if he said that today.

Shame as Refael had Ribery in his pocket and Robben scored a wonder goal to knock us out.
 

lsd

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He was bad enough i don't want to ever see another one playing for us.
 

el3mel

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How many German players actually succeeded in English big clubs ? Generally speaking ? I can't think of many.
 

lsd

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The fact he used us as somewhere to go when his wife wasn't playing tennis was enough for me to hate him.

The one good thing Jose did was throwing him in the reserves but then he backed down and apologised to him.:mad:
 

RedDevil@84

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A nearby country with one of the biggest populations in Europe, similar climate, produces dozens of great footballers every generation yet only one has played for United?

What's the deal?
A raw deal called Bayern Munich because they are what they are
 

Cloud7

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How many German players actually succeeded in English big clubs ? Generally speaking ? I can't think of many.
Ballack was good at Chelsea.

Ozil was decent enough in a mediocre Arsenal team.

Gundogan has been decent with Pep at City.
 

Falcow

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A nearby country with one of the biggest populations in Europe, similar climate, produces dozens of great footballers every generation yet only one has played for United?

What's the deal?
There is nothing about the Manchester climate that is similar to Germany.

Amazing stat all the same.
 

RUCK4444

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I think there is definitely a divide between English / German leagues which one can only assume is rooted in old history shall we say, it was a bit of a topic in the Sancho thread.

German players are hoovered up by the Bayern machine and the other clubs seem to have a real bitter league envy when it comes to the PL and so for some backward reasoning allow their own academies to feed Bayern and in turn they dominate the rest.

It’s a strange incestuous league.
 

do.ob

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I think there is definitely a divide between English / German leagues which one can only assume is rooted in old history shall we say, it was a bit of a topic in the Sancho thread.

German players are hoovered up by the Bayern machine and the other clubs seem to have a real bitter league envy when it comes to the PL and so for some backward reasoning allow their own academies to feed Bayern and in turn they dominate the rest.

It’s a strange incestuous league.
This nails it. Incredibly sharp analysis.
 

Bondi77

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Two World Wars and a World Cup final win might have something to do with it....I could be wrong:boring:
 

Number32

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Poor Ron-Robert Zieler, totally forgotten.
It was supposed to be him not Ben Foster.
 

KetilOwren88

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Klinsmann, Hitzlsperger, Podolski, Ozil, Riedle, Ballack, Leno, Hamann, Lehmann, Mertesacker, Rudiger, Sane, Gundogan springs to mind. Some big sucesses, but mostly ok/average players. Strange one really
 

SalfordRed18

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Klinsmann, Hitzlsperger, Podolski, Ozil, Riedle, Ballack, Leno, Hamann, Lehmann, Mertesacker, Rudiger, Sane, Gundogan springs to mind. Some big sucesses, but mostly ok/average players. Strange one really
Podolski?
 

Dante

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There is nothing about the Manchester climate that is similar to Germany.

Amazing stat all the same.
True.

Manchester's daily mean temperature is warmer than Munich's. Manchester's annual rainfall is also less than Munich's.

German players would find a hotter and drier climate than they're used to if they came to Manchester. That might put them off.
 

SalfordRed18

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Yes, born in Poland but a German NT player
To be honest I've burnt out most of podolskis career out my memory for absolutely no reason. Completely forgot he opted for Germany.

Also completely forgot he played for arsenal.
 
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The German league is one of the strongest leagues, and so not so many home grown (I.e German) players go abroad. The fact we haven’t had more, is just a coincidence

we haven’t had many Italian players either, can only think of Tiabi, Macheda and Darmian?

do many German youngsters go abroad? A lot of Spanish youngsters seem to go abroad, can’t think of any Germans.
 

GameOn

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Two World Wars and a World Cup final win might have something to do with it....I could be wrong:boring:
Why should they still care about that final in 1966?

They've been to 8 WC finals and won 4 of them.

I doubt they actually care all that much about that one final ages ago.
 

el3mel

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Ballack was good at Chelsea.

Ozil was decent enough in a mediocre Arsenal team.

Gundogan has been decent with Pep at City.
There are definitely some who succeeded, but I feel like Germans aren't that popular in English big clubs for some reason, in comparison to some other nationalities.